Fear not good readers, I definitely don’t mean symphonies of the standard sort, I was just looking for a decent title. A while has passed since my last music post, months in fact, so there are plenty of excellent rock, metal and experiment albums for me to share, and the main problem I’ll have is keeping this short. So, in no particular order here are a few of the things I’ve been enjoying this spring.

Ayreon – The Source

The source is a prog masterpiece which – in my opinion – misses only one thing, and that’s choruses. The vocals are excellent, the story is fun and the instrumental sections are mind blowing. There’s a lot of catchy music here, but none of the vocals really repeat, which serious makes singing along difficult in places, but that said, I’ve been listening to this a lot, and loving it. There’s a good chance if you’re a fan of prog you’ll already know all this though although Inside Out Music never seem to me to work all that hard on advertising.

You can find a playlist of all the official videos, on YouTube

Listen on:

Vinnum Sabbathi - Gravity Works

The band’s bandcamp describes them as ‘space doomsters’, and that’s a good description. There’s a lot of sci-fi going on here, with classic samples from the likes of Wernher von Braun, and (I think) Carl Sagan.

This is heavy, slow and very, very immersive. Highly recommended.

Listen on:

Ivar Bjørnson & Einar Selvik - Skuggsjá

Apple Music classifies this as black metal, but that couldn’t be more wrong, as this is a Scandinavian folk record performed by the excellent Wardruna and Enslaved.

There’s a lot to like here, including a lot that’s heavy so I strongly suggest you check it out!

Listen on:

Ulver - The Assassination of Julius Caesar

I’m not sure anyone was expecting this synthpop/electronic album from Ulver but as with everything else they’ve ever done it’s excellent. If anything, this proves that Ulver can always be expected to do something unexpected, although this was perhaps telegraphed by Ulver’s Childhood’s End album, and Mothlite (Daniel O’Sullivan’s side project).

Listen on:

The Flesh of the Stars - Anhilla

How about a sweet doom record to finish up with? This reminds me a bit of some Godspeed, mixed with some good old stoner doom. There’s an excellent mix of quiet chilled bits as well as the heavier riffs you need. It’s also free on Bandcamp (name your price!), so you have no excuse not to listen and enjoy!

Listen on:

Finally

Let me know if you appreciate this sort of post and feel free to make suggestions for cool things I should hear.